In one of the most shameful incidents to be seen on a rugby field in the history of South African sport, August 10, 2002, will always be remembered as the day that a drunken Bok fan attacked Irish referee Dave McHugh in Tri Nations meeting between the All Blacks and South Africa in Durban.

Referee McHugh was not having his best game to say the least, with more than one controversial decision that had the local crowd fuming in the heated tension of a clash with arch rivals New Zealand.

I myself was there, in the crowd, when early in the second half the atmosphere got the better of lunatic Springbok fan Piet Van Zyl. I watched him run, or should I say waddle, onto the field from underneath the stand I was sitting at.

Middle-aged van Zyl, clad in jeans and a faded Springboks jersey straining to hold in its contents, attacked referee McHugh, wrestling him to the ground. He was quickly pulled off by the rescuing party of Richie McCaw and AJ Venter, who rushed to McHugh's aid, but not before the referee suffered a dislocated shoulder.

He was carried off on a medical buggy, and an unrepentant van Zyl, nose bleeding after taking a few slaps from Venter and McCaw, was led away with a broken nose by police, to later face a lifetime ban from South African rugby grounds, as well as assault charges.

An unrepentant Van Zyl later emphasised that he did not regret his actions. "Dont forget that the incident happened when the referee closed his one eye and ceased to see the Springboks. I am therefore not sorry that I did what I did. If he, the referee, didnt do what he did that incident would not have happened."

His grudge against McHugh has existed since the notorious 1995 'Battle of Boet Erasmus', the match between Canada and South Africa which McHugh refereed. During that game McHugh gave James Dalton a red card for trying to stop a fight.

Piet Van Zyl's actions were moronic, and the incident was and still is ridiculously embarassing for the South African players, people, and rugby fans all over the world.

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This is absolutely disgusting. I have always dreamed to be in the SAME STADIUM as an AB / Bokke match. Imagine messing up an opportunity millions the world over would give an eye tooth for. The commentator was right. He needed more than a broken nose.P.S. Cheers for all the videos, RD. I enjoy this site immensely.

An absolute disgrace.How no security got near the guy earlier is bewildering!i know when i go to twickenham as soon as someone attempts to get on the pitch 20 security guys are afta him or her within seconds.

pitch invasion, streakers is one thing, but to attack a referee is another. I know this is an older video (2002) but it would be great if no football rugby boundaries ever crossed.Sure referee's make bad decisions, and inevitably a team will get a ref which loses the game for them, but that is something people have to except. Players dont get violent with the ref.It is appalling to be honest. Was very nice to see both teams giving that supporter a bit of a dap! and the commentators getting their point in aswell!

am pretty sure that the player who broke his nose was a springbok aswell.you can just see a couple quick blows if you look carefully.think it is the number 5.good to see that even though was a springbok fan the player knew what the guy deserved.

Remember watching this on TV in Australia and I was in utter disbelief.How he could be so dumb as to do it at a scrum, where 16 very big, very strong blokes were ready to jump on him and beat the living snot through him, that's the only funny thing about it for me.What a fool.In response to Chris, English Referee Chris White, who was the 4the official, refereed the rest of the game.

The look on McQ'a face says it all,just shocked. McCaw seems to be trying to get the guy off and one of the Boks gives him a few swift ones.What was the fat oaf so riled up about? Was it a bad decision, who won the game eventually.

that's sickening. it's unfortunate to see that kind of blatant disrespect for the game. kudos to Richie and the boys for coming to the refs aide. and whoever broke that fellas nose, more goes out to you..

"this is where the security of the stadium are so important"- ha! absolutely the worst security i have ever seen. the 2 guys in suits cant even keep him undr control. let alone stop him from getting on the field.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything more satisfying than 30 rugby players coming to the referee's aid :DI can only imagine this was before the referee had a radio to talk to his touch judges, or they would've warned him...

Van Zyl evaded 419 security guards on that day! I suppose they weren't expecting something like that, and took a while to react. And normally the security in SA is just a bunch of young african guys who've been handed a flourescent bib and told to stand there. They don't really have much clue as to what's going on, no disrespect to them intended. Anyway, I remember this well and every south african was shaking their head, all thinking what tools we looked like on that day. Hopefully the world just sees it as it was - one drunk idiot who got carried away. Oh, and McHugh was useless, but it doesn't justify Van Zyl's reaction... I suppose ;)

Give the guy a break, who hasnt done something stupid when being drunk? He was just in the wrong place in the wrong time with the wrong ammount of beer in his belly... lolI mean the poor bastard couldn't even aim his tackle properly..Anyway, he got what he deserved..

Disgraceful, an embarrassment to Bokke fans everywhere. Thought it was funny when the AB's no. 8 looks up and thinks its an actual Bok player tackling the ref.And to Matt, how is it the ref a weed because his shoulder was dislocated ? What a dopey comment.

...maar pasop vir 'n boer, wat 'n ref wil MOER...he he he hewas also there that day, the ref was a total twat, far worse than Honiss, Dickheadson and Barnes put together, and the whole stadium quietly wished they could have the courage to do what Piet van Zyl did!LEGENDThe only accountability that ever occured in test reffing in the last 10 years.

discraceful. makes me angry 2 think about it. refs can be bad sometimes, but it is a game and without them there wud b no game. the idoit who said "Long Live Piet Van Zyl!!!" and the other who said "Give the guy a break, who hasnt done something stupid when being drunk? He was just in the wrong place in the wrong time with the wrong ammount of beer in his belly... lol" ok is it alrite 2 get drunk and assualt them and hospitalise them for no gud reason?

"Just a Fan said... And who hasnt thought about doing that to a ref?"There is a large difference between thinking and doing.....id say about a 20 years worth of gluttony and obesity....To be honest i've never thought of assaulting a referee. If im playing and bad decisions are given then you want to say something but saying anything against the referee will inevitably cost your team the game.

Would love to see the irb's reaction to a ref in that position fighting back!Pretty shocking though. Im a steward myself and although security is much higher now surely they had measures to stop idiots like this. Especially in such a high profile match

The best is that when you take a closer look, you can see a couple of slpas in the fat bastard's face ... seems to ahve been a bok player ...indeed, it would have been brilliant if the ref fought back ... imagine the fat tosser trying to tackle him and the ref giving a a go at the fatty's face ...

"...maar pasop vir 'n boer, wat 'n ref wil MOER...he he he hewas also there that day, the ref was a total twat, far worse than Honiss, Dickheadson and Barnes put together, and the whole stadium quietly wished they could have the courage to do what Piet van Zyl did!LEGENDThe only accountability that ever occured in test reffing in the last 10 years."your a fucking moron, and any other comment on this about how the guy did something right or how oh, who doesnt think about attacking a ref is a fucking douche bag. What are you, soccer players, attacking refs and shit. And if you ever think of attacking a ref, look at yourself first before you blame the ref, its probably because you can't play for shit that you get so angry when the ref calls you for being dick at rugby.

Have to say.. just to set the record straight, after examining the video when it first happened some years back, it was actually AJ Venter who hit Van Zyl, not McCaw. It's irrelevant now really, but it was definitely Venter. McCaw helped with the wrestling and grabbing, but Venter is the one who got two or three quick flathand slaps in on Van Zyl's nose. Unfortunately on this small vid you can't see it 100% clearly though. In some ways it makes it more enjoyable though, the South African player sorting out the South African dickhead.

RD,I wish you guys would have perhaps put on as background music:"Barroom Hero" by the Dropkick Murphysor better yet,"Die Bloubul" by Steve Hofmeyr (even though this is in Durban, something tells me this guy wears his blue hard hat, even in the sack)

replying to an earlier post, i dont believe this to be an embarassment to south africans. really it made the boks look good. the ref wasnt calling a great game for them, and yet they were the ones who took a few shots at the idiot who attacked the ref... in their own teams jersey no less.

i've seen tonnes of people run onto the field at football games (canadian football), but never someone attack a referee. and james dalton was not breaking up the 1995 fight, that was a massive brawl, and he contributed to it starting.